


I Worry Bout You

by ohnoshefell



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gendrya - Freeform, Happy Ending, Ned Stark is not alive in this, Past Character Death, Protective Gendry Waters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22611310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohnoshefell/pseuds/ohnoshefell
Summary: On her late father's birthday, Gendry helps Arya get through the day.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 30
Kudos: 94





	I Worry Bout You

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the song of the same name by Bombay Bicycle Club
> 
> This wrote itself and it's super short and I feel a little lighter putting this out here.
> 
> Enjoy xx

It was effortless almost, thinking about her all the time.

It didn't take a lot of work and he didn’t mind it either. She was always at the forefront of his mind. He would always worry about her.

Today it's heavier. Today is her father's birthday and when he wakes up it's the first thought that crosses his mind when he looks to his right and she's laying there, eyes open staring straight up at the ceiling.

Her grey eyes look glassy and he's certain a tear will slide down any minute.

He turns on his side to face her and she breaks her gaze from their white ceiling to his blue eyes. 

Blue and bright and so full of life.

He pulls her in his arms and she happily buries her head in his chest.

It was a lazy Sunday morning, only different. 

This Sunday was a sad Sunday and probably the saddest Sunday either of them would have.

But she was in his arms, breathing deeply, warm and sad and Arya. 

She was there with him and today and always he would be there for her.

He places a few gentle kisses at the top of her head, breathing her in.

"What's the plan today?"

She pulls back and looks at him, unsure of what she wants to say first.

They were in Storms End and the rest of her family was scattered all over the continent, so they couldn't exactly mourn or celebrate in each others physical presence.

She settles on one thought, "We can go to Durrandon's Diner and have pancakes," She paused and took a deep breath, closing her eyes, steadying the beat of her heart, "It was his favorite place whenever we'd all vacation here."

Gendry nods and kisses her forehead, "Pancakes at Durrandon's then."

She opens her eyes and looks his face over, "Thank you."

He quickly shakes his head, "No thanks needed. We're a pack, remember. You don't have to carry your pain alone."

Arya nods and the tears slip as she leans forward and kisses him gently on the lips.

It was the start of a sad day but she wasn't going to go through it alone. There was no way he'd let her.

He worries about her.

* * *

The day was sunny as they left the dinner, a rare thing in Storms End.

It was always grey and blue and the sea and lightning. They loved it. 

And the day she felt it was most appropriate, it's sunny and bright and warm.

"I should've brought my baseball cap." She speaks as they walk through the parking lot of the diner and up to their jeep.

He shoots her a smile, "No way. How else would I get to see you try your very best to scowl at the sun without going blind?"

She puts a hand over her forehead and glares at him, which only earns her a laugh from him.

They enter the car and he puts the key in the ignition before turning to her.

"Where to next, m'lady?"

She softens a little at his words before thinking a little more on where they should go. It was already two in the afternoon, so they had a good amount of time to spend doing anything or absolutely nothing.

"Mmm, we can go to the piers, watch the waves come in."

Gendry smiles at her and leans over the console to peck her check.

"That sounds great." 

Arya smiles before turning on the car radio and leaning back in her seat, rolling down the window and reaching across the console to hold his hand as he pulled from the parking lot and made for the road.

The music filled the space in the car comfortably as the drove through Storms End towards the beach while the sun was hanging high in the sky.

Maybe sunny, warm weather was appropriate after all. Maybe her father was watching over her the way she hoped he was after all.

The smell of salt and sea filters through their open car windows and they aren't near the water yet but her skin already feels wet and sun kissed like she'd spent all day out.

She gives his hand a squeeze and he gives her his crooked grin that she loves so much.

Breathing is easier today and celebrating her late father's birthday is easier this year than it was last.

Gendry was here, holding her through the bad and showing her the good.

* * *

They stopped by one of the shops on the piers once he parked the jeep and bought a blanket to lay out on the sand and because he told her he had never built sandcastles a day in his life before, she bought buckets and little plastic shovels and tiny flags to adorn their sandcastles.

"I can't believe you never made sandcastles before." She shakes her head as they settle themselves on the sand.

He snorts, "Well forgive me for never going to the beach when I was younger."

Arya smiles his way, "No apologies, that's our rule for today."

He nods and smiles before she continues speaking, "Jon used to make a wall. He wouldn't make castles. Robb would, but Jon would build a wall."

She smiled fondly at the memories of family holidays from when she was younger and when her father was still with them.

"And Bran?" Gendry asked.

She let out a soft laugh, "I think Bran is the most talented at making sandcastles, or sand creations rather, than the whole of us. He'd craft trees. They wouldn't be going up though, they were flat in the sand."

"Sansa?"

She snorted, "Sansa never got her hands dirty touching wet sand." 

Gendry laughed and nodded in agreement, "Sounds like Sansa."

Arya gave him a big grin, "Rickon would run over and knock everybody's sand castles down and absolute chaos would follow that."

He smiled at her and gave a short nod for her to continue, "What happens after chaos?"

Her smile became sort of sad, but the fondness was still their, the nostalgia and the missing something slightly out of reach.

"Dad would chase us all into the water."

She looked over at the waves crashing in, one after the other, cold and harsh and blue.

He grabbed her hand and she looked at him. He placed the buckets and tiny shovels between them and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, smiling softly as she looked through him.

"Lets build some sandcastles."

* * *

In total, they spend four hours there at the beach.

One hour aimlessly walking up and down the piers.

Another building a total of four sandcastles, one he built on his own and she was proud that his first sandcastle turned out so Gendry.

The third chasing each other around the water and trying not to go to deep because they didn't bring swimsuits.

And the last hour they spent sitting wrapped up in each other and their blanket, her head tucked softly against his shoulder, watching as the sun set, sinking lower and lower into the sea in front of them, turning the sky above them into a mix of orange and lilac.

Hearing his heartbeat beneath her, she felt at peace and at home. She felt safe and like all the badness in the world, all the hurt couldn't touch her and even if it had, he'd hold her and do his best to help her catalog through each and every emotion.

It was a little after six in the evening and they were folding the blanket and packing away their buckets.

"Where to next?" He asked her as they stood and stretched.

She looked at him for a moment, grey eyes glistening. It had gotten a little more chilly and the wind was dancing around them, her hair flying everywhere.

She brushed it out of her eyes and looked up at the rich purple of the sky that would soon turn navy before looking at him, "You pick. Surprise me."

His eyes widened a little, "Are you sure?"

Arya smiles and nods at him, "He was your family too."

He doesn't have the words for what that sentence means to him, what Arya's family accepting him and loving him easily means to him.

What Ned Stark having been his father-in-law means to him.

He just gives her a small nod and a little breathless chuckle escapes him before they begin walking to the jeep and packing everything away.

They drive through the night and she's not sure where they're going, but she did ask for a surprise.

She feels the salty breeze pass them by as they drive further from the beach and closer to wherever he picked.

It's a longer drive than the beach and it's already seven in the evening.

The closer they get towards the hillside of Storms End, she knows they're going to Orys' Observatory where you can get the nicest and prettiest views of the stars above that danced over the waves of Storms End.

He parked in the lot and she went to the booth and bought two tickets for entry before meeting him by the gates.

They went in and it was relatively empty but they liked it that way. It was the later half of a Sunday night so most people where sensibly at home, curled up and preparing for their early starts tomorrow. 

But not them.

They looked through all the planetary exhibits, seeing moons drawn as dragon eggs and the spherical shape of their planet orbiting their sun.

They went to the highest tower and the exhibit instructor showed them to the center seats before shutting off the lights and pushing the button on the wall by the door, opening up the ceiling to the sky above them.

They recline their seats to lay nearly flat as they look at the constellations above them.

"Do you know why it's named Orys' Observatory?" He asks her and he sees her shake her head from his peripheral.

He turns a little towards her and she meets his gaze, "Well, you see that constellation in the center? Right above us?"

"That's sort of shaped like a woman?" She asks, looking at him briefly and he nods and smiles.

"Yes, that one."

"What about it?" She asks and he smiles.

"Well, that's called Argella's constellation. She declared herself the storm queen of the Stormlands during-"

"During Aegon's conquest." Arya cuts in and he smiles at her.

"Yeah. Her men turned her in though, to Orys', chained and naked. But he unchained her and gave her a blanket and was kind and gentle towards her. They fell in love and ruled over the Stormlands together."

Arya shoots him a look and he raises his hands up, "Or so I've heard."

She laughs and he continues, "Anyways, they'd long since named these constellations above us and when they built this observatory, with the perfect view of Argella's constellation, they named it Orys', so that they'd still be watching over the Stormlands together even after death."

Arya looked up at the stars above them and felt her breath catch a little. 

The stars really did fill up their world with a little magic and it made her feel a little warm inside.

"We can buy a star." She says after a moment.

He turns to look at her again, his face the equivalent of a question mark.

She smiles at him before continuing, "We can buy a star and name it after him."

He looks at her for a moment before giving her a warm smile and nodding in agreement, "Yeah we can. I think he would've liked that."

Her eyes look glossy but she's still smiling when she looks up at the stars, "Yeah, me too."

* * *

They leave an hour later and head to the bakery by their apartment complex.

The bells chime as they enter and they smile at Hot Pie behind the counter, who's face is bright and pink from baking and selling all day.

"Hey Hot Pie."

He smiles at them, "Hey guys. What can I do for you?"

Gendry looks down at Arya to his right and she nods up at him.

He looks back to Hot Pie, "A chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles please Oh! And one blue candle."

Hot Pie smiles even brighter at them, "You got it."

They leave him with a generous tip, like always, which leaves him sputtering that they need to stop doing that because "friends don't pay" and they head home.

After they get home, set the cupcake down on the kitchen table, shower and change into their pajamas, they take the cupcake and small candle to their bedroom with a match and he puts them on his night stand.

They sit themselves against the bed as Arya pulls her laptop from the desk side table and opens it up so they can watch an episode or two of the office.

It's a little after ten when they finish and Arya closes the tabs on her laptop before opening up the video chat and calling her family into a group call as Gendry gets the cupcake, sticks the candle in it and waits to light it.

Jon is the first to answer, then Bran and Rickon. They all chat for a moment, discussing how they each spent the day since they couldn't be together before her mother, Robb and Sansa join the call.

Arya feels a pang in her chest and she smiles at them all as tears burn in her eyes.

"I can't wait to see you all again." She says and they all tease her and smile and make her feel like shes with all of them in all their homes even through a laptop screen.

Robb mentions how he can't wait to see Gendry, only pulling a laugh from him as he expressed how he missed them all as well.

It was a nearing closer to eleven and everyone settled down after catching up.

"Everybody got their cupcakes?" Rickon asked and everybody nodded.

Gendry lit the candle with the match and Catelyn counted off from three and they all began to sing through their screens.

_Happy birthday to you_

She feels lighter and she knows he can tell.

_Happy birthday to you_

He worries about her but he knows she can take care of herself.

_Happy birthday dear dad (Ned)_

Catelyn smiles at him through the screen for being the only other person apart from her singing Ned.

_Happy birthday to you._

Their voices had been soft and gentle and their screens were grainy and dim but she knew tears were streaming down her face same as hers.

They all blew out their candles and smiled at each other.

"He would've been happy." Robb says, his smile sad.

They all nod in agreement and speak lightly of all heading to Winterfell soon for a needed family vacation and Arya smiles at Gendry.

They all say their _goodnight's_ and their _I love you's_ before clicking off.

She gets up to put the cupcake in the fridge and he follows her into the kitchen.

"If you ever need to float off, I'll be here for you." He comes up behind her as she leans against the kitchen counter and wraps her in an embrace from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I don't think you need to worry about me floating off anytime soon. Or ever actually." She murmurs, before twisting in his embrace and wrapping her arms tightly around him.

He kisses the top of her head before resting his cheek on it.

"I don't think I'll never not worry about you." He admits and she laughs.

"I know that. But I'm not floating off. It's usually sadder, it's usually worse. But you were here. You held my hand through it all."

She looked up at him and held his gaze, "I'm not floating off."

He dropped his head down and kissed her sweetly and his lips were warm against hers.

She knew all bad days weren't going to be good bad days like today. She knew there would be worse ones and she also knew him.

She knew he was real and warm and home.

He worries about her, but not the same way. 

It's a little different now because he takes care of her.

She can take care of herself, but she lets him take care of her and in turn, she takes care of him.

"I love you." He says as they pull away and head towards the comfort of their bed.

She smiles at him and they reach their room and tuck themselves into the bed and into each other.

Her head rests comfortably over his chest while she listens to the lullaby of the beat of his heart.

"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!!
> 
> peace and love,  
> ohnoshefell


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